Trip Report - Montana 2012

[SilverCreek 0]

I was out in Montana fishing with a few friends, one of whom is Gary Borger. Gary taught me to fly fish 31 years ago and we have been friends ever since. My trip and Gary's crossed for a couple of days. You can catch Gary's blog on our trip at:

 

http://www.garyborger.com/2012/07/16/wind-along-the-madison/

 

We stayed at the Greenlee "guest lodge" just above the Raynold's Pass Bridge.

 

 

The fishing god's gave us a great the day before Gary arrived. Both Gene and I landed trout numbering in the high teens. A storm blew in on Gary's first fishing day with use

 

Here are a few photos:

 

We hiked upstream with fog rising from the Madison:

 

 

Here is Gary taking photos of a fish. Gene and I call this the Glory Run for the huge fish that spooled Gene several years ago. Then the next day, I took first cast in the same pool and the same fish spooled me. We never saw the fish but having caught 20 inch fish in this area before, we figure the fish was north of 2 feet.

 

 

Gary casting :

 

 

Gary at the Colonel's Pool:

 

 

The Three Amigos:

 

 

Two fish that fell for my sunken ant. I was fishing a dry ant with a sunken dropper ant. Both fish passed on the dry ant and took the sunken ant.

 

 

 

A twig I snagged with Hydropsychidae (net builders) caddis larvae. I plan to tie some up for next year.

 

 

Gene with a nice brown

 

 

 

Gary hooks what we think is the fish of a lifetime. The enormous stone and the "slow water" below the stone described in his blog below can be seen in this photo just at Gary's hip level as he "pulls the trigger" on the fish.

 

 

 

 

Gary heads across the Glory Run as the fish heads towards Ennis, Mt. At this time the fish has Gary well into the backing. I wish there were sound effects because the reel is just singing as Gary is still losing line to the fish.

 

 

The photos above go with Gary's blog. I took them as Gary took off down stream chasing his fish. He was moving so fast that I could not catch up to him by moving along the banks of the Madison, so I went inland and raced along a dry river channel until I could catch up to him. He was wading through the Colonel's Pool by the time I caught up to him about 700 yards downstream and then the fish took his line UNDER a tree that had been washed downstream by the spring flush. He took the rod UNDER the tree and then reconnected with the fish and finally landed it even further downstream.

 

You can read the rest of the story on the Runaway Trout.

 

His next post is about the second night he was with us. My friend Gene went out to fish the evening hatch and returned. I asked whether he had fished with Gary, and he said he say Gary just sitting on a rock about 100 feet upstream of our guest cabin. The next day Gary told us about the two big browns he caught by just waiting patiently for them to show themselves. It was so dark when Gary caught these fish that he blindly took a series of photos until he got the the fish properly framed.

 

You can see in his photo of the "secret river" next to the bank and imagine the big browns moving into feed under the cover of darkness.

 

His story is called Marker Fly

 

 

Sometimes we get a little silly. Gary taking a photo of me as I take a photo of him taking a photo of me.

 

 

[fly tryer 0]

Very Nice!!

 

Steve

[Piker20 0]

Great telling. I was really excited to see the runaway.

[Bucket 0]

Great looking water. Nice looking fish. Looks like a smashing time.

[kentuckytroutbum 0]

Silvercreek-

 

Thanks for posting your trip report. My fishing buddy and I are heading to the Madison, near Ennis, in late Sept. to chase trout. Your report and photos are getting me excited about our up & coming trip.

 

Bill